Victim Recovery Dogs- A Scientific Perspective

Lorna Irish BSc (Hons)PhD Research Student

Overview Introduction

Victim Recovery Dogs Drowned Victim Search Dogs

VR Dog Research VOC Analysis PhD Aims and Progress Questions N.B. Will be pictures of decomposing remains!

Introduction Victim Recovery (VR) Dogs a.k.a.: Cadaver Dogs Forensic Evidence Search (FES) Dogs

Decomposition Dog Human Remains Detection (HRD) Dogs

Trained to detect human remains

Victim Recovery Dogs Victim recovery dogs

In USA since 1970’s In UK since ~1990’s

Can detect remains in a variety of decompositional states: Blood, Fresh Skeletal Fragmented Buried Submerged

Drowned Victim Search Dogs

Dogs trained to detect human remains in water

Idea originally from US Navy Dogs used to detect divers

Very little public awareness

VR Dog Training Human Remains (not UK) Animal Remains Items that have been in contact with cadavers e.g. soil, clothing

Pseudoscents Accuracy?

No National Standards or Regulations

Scent Movement Scent cones

Dogs trained to locate apex of cone

Affected by a number of factors Wind Topography Deposition

Scent Movement in Water 3 dimensional movement of bodies Problems with search and recovery

Very complex! Flow/Tides/Current? Thermoclines Wind Time

VR Dog Research Mostly based in America

Access to human remains Limited UK Publications

Funding Next to no publications on DVS dogs 1 article (Osterkamp 2011) 1 thesis (Bil 2008)

No current knowledge which chemicals VR dogs detect

VR Dog Research Residual Scent (Oesterhelweg et al. 2008)

Human vs Animal Remains (Komar 1999; Lasseter et al. 2003)

Buried (Lasseter et al. 2003)

Human Teeth (Cablk et al. 2011)

VOC Analysis Volatile Organic Compounds

Assumed to be chemicals that VR dogs detect

No two research groups have produced same results Different methodologies

Terrestrial studies only 400+ detected from human remains 800+ detected from pig remains

PhD Aims Identify chemicals VR dogs respond to Training impacts? Improved pseudoscents?

Determine if chemicals produced are different/altered in water environments

PhD Progress Extensive literature review Numerous visits to UK police forces and other organisations with VR dogs with continuing liaison Theories and hypotheses based on observations

Initial laboratory work- Pilot studies

UK VR Dog Visits International Rescue Training Centre of Wales (IRTCW)

Search and Rescue Dogs Association (SARDA)

Police Forces

UK VR Dog FiguresTotal Number of Police Dogs by Role

 

Victim Detection

Dog

Forensic Evidence Search Dog

Blood Screening

DogFORCE      

Cleveland ? ? ?Dyfed Powys 2 2 2

Kent 0 1* 0Lancashire 2 2 2

Metropolitan 16* 0 0Northamptonshire 1 0 0

Northumbria 3 3 3PSNI 4 0 4

South Wales 4 4 0South Yorkshire 4 4 4

Surrey 4 4 4Thames Valley/Hants 8 6 5

West Midlands 4 0 4Central Scotland 1 0 0Lothian & Borders 1 0 0

Strathclyde 3 0 0       

National TOTALS 41 25 28Visited force TOTAL 35/57    

* Dual trained

Forces with DVS dogs (known)

Forces intending to pursue DVS

Yellow: VisitedBlue: Plans to visit in progress

Other UK VR Dog Figures

DVS Dogs SARDA: 2 (1 N.I., 1 Lancashire) IRTCW: 1 (N.Wales) K9 SAR (Scotland): 2

Others?!

Information Gained from Visits

No standards or regulating body ACPO publishes “guidelines” which are open to interpretation

No requirement for external verification

Training varies greatly Is this a problem? Implications on dog efficiency?

Initial Laboratory Work Detection of chemicals from pig meat decomposing over 3 months Air vs Water Heated vs Room temp

Real Water Samples To be analysed

Water Sample Collection VR Dog Training (pigs)

PSNI Northumbria

Comparison of controlled lab generated samples vs “real-life” In the water (HPLC-MS) Above the water (GC-MS)

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To this

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Initial Results Chemicals identified in agreement to published literature

Differences in trends and chemicals observed between decomposition of samples in air and water

Initial ResultsAir: Water

:

Future Work Extending initial work

Pieces of pork to whole piglets/pigs

Analysis of “real” water samples Further police visits Incorporating VR dogs into experimental work Testing potential marker chemicals identified by initial studies and published literature

Summary Much more work needs to be done for fuller understanding of dog detection

Further collaboration required

Between organisations With universities

Any Questions?